Image Credit: BCCI.tv
The match worth every penny for each person present at Edgbaston and those glued to their TV sets, as England clinched a thrilling three-run win over India in a one-off T20 match in Birmingham on Sunday.
Team India couldn’t finish the tour with a win but they tried till the last ball, with captain cool MS Dhoni on the crease. When Dhoni bats anything is possible, and the skipper brought India to a touching distance to a win but with a boundary required off the last ball, he only found the fielder.
India needed 17 to win in the last over, and Dhoni shouldered the responsibility to drive his team home. He smashed Chris Woakes’ first ball for a six, took two on the second and smacked fourth for a boundary. He needed five off last two balls but Woakes didn’t allow Dhoni to get under the ball.
Earlier, England skipper Eoin Morgan elected to bat and led from the front with a scorching fifty that powered the hosts to 180 in 20 overs. The English team, however, was not off to best of starts and initially lost some quick wickets.
Debutant Jason Roy (8) was the first to depart, while Moeen Ali (1) soon followed him to the dressing room. Opener Alex Hales and Joe Root recovered England and stitched a 42-run partnership for the third wicket, which was broken by Ravindra Jadeja.
Hales (40) was looking good but he played an unwanted shoot and caught by Ajinkya Rahane off Jadeja. Debutant Karn Sharma ended Root’s (26) struggle and put England on the back-foot but Morgan had other plans and he lifted his team from a peculiar position.
Morgan (77) held one end firmly but the wickets kept falling from the other. He thrashed the Indian bowlers and capitalised on India’s wayward bowling in the death overs. Ravi Bopara also made a quick-firing nine-ball 21 as England post a competitive total on the board.
In chase of 181, India lost Rahane (8) in the second over but Shikhar Dhawan and Virat back-in-form Kohli put the touring party in the driving seat. Kohli, in particular, took on the English bowlers and thrashed them all over the park.
Despite Dhawan’s (33) dismissal, India were cruising with Kohli and Suresh Raina but England changed the complexion of the game by picking quick wickets. Steven Finn dismissed Kohli (66), while Harry Gurney castled Raina (25).
English team made a fine comeback, as after getting Kohli and Raina they also dismissed Jadeja (7). Jadeja was ran out by Bopara while picking a cheeky single and the Indian innings never took off after that and the run rate kept creeping up.
However, with Dhoni (27 not out) on the crease no total is out of reach but this time the India captain, maybe, left too much to do at the end. He received no support from Ambati Rayudu (five-ball three) as the visitors lost the match.
